What does "the abnormal" refer to? How is our understanding of the termmediated by cultural, legal or religious practices, and institutions? Whatare the social, political, and historical implications of thinking in termsof norms? And finally, what is the abnormal's role as a category indifferent disciplines both within the humanities and in the social sciences?

In Abnormal: Lectures at the CollÃ¨ge de France 1975-76, Michel Foucaulttraces the genealogy and conceptual power of "the abnormal," which hesituates within a medical and a juridical discourse. As Arnold Davidsonsuggests, what Foucault succeeded in doing was to trouble the term'sperceived natural and inevitable status. How, then, does the abnormaldisrupt normative assumptions within our respective disciplines? Whathappens to seemingly stable and inherent categories when we think of themin terms of norms? And how has "the abnormal" evolved since Foucault?

This year's CLIFF conference, sponsored by the Department of ComparativeLiterature at the University of Michigan, is an attempt to engage with "theabnormal" an umbrella term that will provoke engaging, interdisciplinarydiscussions around this theme.

Papers might relate the importance of norms to one of the following areasof study: anthropology, gender & sexuality, eugenics & race, Post-ColonialStudies, film, history, literature, law, politics, and philosophy. Thislist is meant to inspire possible topics but is by no means exhaustive.

KEYNOTE: ANN STOLER, Willy Brandt Distinguished University Professor ofAnthropology and Historical Studies at The New School.

RESPONDENT: VALERIE TRAUB, Professor of English and Women's Studies at theUniversity of Michigan.

The CLIFF Committee would like to thank the English, History, andPsychology Departments for their generous contributions.

Please submit abstracts of no more than 250 words, including your name,address, and school affiliation, to cliffconference09_at_gmail.com by December20, 2008.